I got a sneak peek at the Extended Edition DVD of Return of the King, through a contact I have in the industry, and let me tell you something: you guys are gonna shit your pants at some of the new footage. I am talking absolutely jaw-dropping stuff - why it ended up on the cutting room floor I cannot imagine. There’s a LOT more Legolas and Gimli, a lot more. There’s this great exchange after they raise the army of the dead and are headed to commandeer the black ships:
GIMLI: So now we find passage to Gondor to fight the minions of Mordor!
LEGOLAS: And it shall not be a pleasant visit. I have been to Mordor.
GIMLI: You? To Mordor?
LEGOLAS: Yes, a strange place it is. Everything is just a little different. They have the same manners and arts we have, but they are just different.
GIMLI: Example?
LEGOLAS: Well, in Mordor, in a movie theatre, you can buy a beer. And I speak not of a paper cup, but a glass of mead. And you can buy a beer in a McDonald’s. And do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Mordor?
GIMLI: They do not call it a Quarter Pounder? But that is the name by which we have called it for centuries!
LEGOLAS: They do not, for they have the metric system, and wouldst not know what the fuck a quarter pound is.
GIMLI: The brigands! What do they call it?
LEGOLAS: A Royale with Cheese.
GIMLI: Ha ha! A Royale with Cheese! Most droll! And what do they call a Big Mac, sir elf?
LEGOLAS: “Le Big Mac.”
GIMLI: It is to laugh! And what do they call a Whopper?
LEGOLAS: I don’t know, ne’er did I enter a Burger King, Gimli, son of Gloin. And do you know what they doused their French fries in?
GIMLI: What, sir elf?
LEGOLAS: Mayonnaise!
GIMLI: Yuck!